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Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?

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Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?

#171

Post by kristiandupont »

jitl wrote: post #79
djfdat wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

- Peek at desktop - Quick hide-all-windows to copy something from your desktop to your clipboard, then bring everything back - Alt-tab, especially when it comes to apps with multiple windows, and windows in different states, such as minimized - A modern/fully-featured default web browser without a locked down extension ecosystem. - A start menu for seeing all your applications - A taskbar with application grouping -…

Desktop peek: Part of “Mission Control”: spread thumb and 3 fingers, or press Fn+F11. Alt tab: press cmd-tab to cycle applications, then cmd-` to cycle windows of that application. This typically has better number-of-keypress to get the window you want compared to Windows alt-tab which requires iterating over all windows in the worst case. Browser: Safari is fits your criteria Start menu to see all apps: this is call…

>Alt tab: press cmd-tab to cycle applications, then cmd-` to cycle windows of that application. This typically has better number-of-keypress to get the window you want compared to Windows alt-tab which requires iterating over all windows in the worst case.

In the case where you need to switch to a window that you haven't been using for a while, perhaps. But switching back and forth on the other hand, is infuriating because the z-order is polluted. And I also find it incredibly frustrating that all the other windows are brought to the top just because they happen to share a process.

Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?

#172

Post by kristiandupont »

coolspot wrote: post #126

Same reason why Mac mouse doesn’t have right click and why ~double-click~ [edit: pressing “return”] on a folder is renaming, and why window controls are on a left side of a window and do things unlike MS Windows (not closing, not minimizing, not maximizing). Patents.

Is "F2 for rename" patented?

Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?

#173

Post by howinteresting »

yongjik wrote: post #168
howinteresting wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

macOS is designed for mainstream users, not power users who want an efficient workflow with minimum distractions. This is why I stopped complaining about macOS and just use Linux.

Only if you're very lucky with Linux, or your definition of distraction does not include hours spent on fixing sleep and hibernation, finding the right input method among several that keep getting deprecated, fixing pixel scaling with multiple monitors, and other fun stuff. I still have a Linux Desktop that I boot up from time to time, but I've pretty much given up at this point. My time is more valuable than that.

I've never had a serious issue with Pop OS on both a desktop and a Thinkpad.

Linux does have some issues (GNOME has some pretty noticeable UI issues) but overall I'm much happier with it than I ever was with macOS.

Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?

#174

Post by vosper »

alehlopeh wrote: post #170

Can an Ask HN self-post be clickbait? Apple isn’t refusing to do anything. They just haven’t done some minor thing that you personally would like. The fact that you’re “shocked” by something as banal as “lack of window snapping” is kind of funny actually.

Ask / Tell HNs definitely can be click/engagement bait, and this probably is.

Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?

#175

Post by howinteresting »

wryanzimmerman wrote: post #149
howinteresting wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

macOS is designed for mainstream users, not power users who want an efficient workflow with minimum distractions. This is why I stopped complaining about macOS and just use Linux.

I’m a power user who wants minimal distractions… OSX provides that just fine, my workflow is nearly identical between OSX and Linux because it’s just a full screen terminal.

Glad it works for you.

Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?

#176

Post by CharlesW »

simonbarker87 wrote: post #156

I think this is more about the ethos of the Mac. Unix (which is the underpinnings of Mac) was all about lots of small tools that build together to make something great, and if the base OS doesn’t have what you want then that’s a great third party (or DIY) opportunity. This bleeds over to the Mac in my opinion. I don’t want Apple to make everything, I want them to provide hooks and APIs that allow other people to make…

As you note, there are many great window management solutions for macOS. I'm also very satisfied that Finder's basic window management features are complemented by a healthy choice of free and paid power-user solutions.

Rectangle (rectangleapp.com) is a good choice that also does snapping. I'm happy with Raycast (raycast.com), which offers window management with an extension (https://www.raycast.com/extensions/window-management).

Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?

#177

Post by ubercow13 »

bentcorner wrote: post #157
ralfd wrote: post #41

My go to example to explain the One True Mac Way of Window management is the “The many windows of John Siracusa” podcast from ATP a few years ago. The relevant discussion starts at 1:33:00 https://atp.fm/episodes/96 Siracusa, who grew up as a (classic) Mac user, explains his tiling and overlapping habits to Arment and Liss, who grew up as Microsoft Windows users and later switched, and they gasp in utter horror, shoc…

I recently started using MacOS and fell into this habit as well - I just end up leaving windows open floating underneath other apps. I learned about cmd+` which is handy to deal with multiple windows of the same app. In Windows I tend to minimize stuff I'm not actively working on (but not always). In general while I also have a lot of "background" windows it feels a lot less fiddly than MacOS. Personally I don't like…

There's an option for that in system settings, 'Minimise windows into application icon'

Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?

#179

Post by s1mon »

hartator wrote: post #102

I use Magnet which is sweet. https://magnet.crowdcafe.com/

Magnet does a much better job than the very limited options that MacOS has built in. It has menu/key commands for half-screen, quarter-screen, third-screen, and sixth-screen as well as maximizing without taking over the menu bar. It also has snap by dragging which can be used for all of these different fractions, although I almost always just use it for left/right half or full.

Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?

#180

Post by baq »

saghm wrote: post #151
lloeki wrote: post #141

Well, because it has? Hover over the green stoplight, you get a popover with fullscreen options. Press Option and the fullscreen options mutate into snap left/snap right/zoom. These can also be found in the Window menu. Again, press option to mutate the fullscreen ones to snap. And since these are menu options, one can set any keyboard shortcut of their choosing through the keyboard shortcut prefpane+. So it is not "…

The only Apple device I use is the laptop I was given for work, and I've always disliked that the button that would "maximize" the window on other OS instead makes the window "fullscreen" (getting rid of the menu and everything else that entails). I recently discovered that I am actually able to "maximize" by double-clicking the top bar of the window, but I have no idea if this is something that works by default or i…

I’ve used this feature on windows 3.11 (I think? It’s been a long time ago…) macOS window management is very lacking but without this I’d just give up, right now I’m barely getting by - installed rectangle recently which gives keyboard shortcuts to window snapping.
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